STAFF PHOTO BY MURRAY JUDSON Between drought conditions turning the sand powdery and tons of extra sand washed ashore courtesy of Hurricane Ike that struck Galveston Island in September, beach driving conditions in Port Aransas are deteriorating by the hour. City officials are scrambling to find ways of making the beach drivable for the upcoming Spring Break in March and the Texas SandFest in April. The issue will be on the city council agenda at its Feb. 19 meeting.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers prohibited the city from bulldozing approximately 30,000 cubic yards of sand deposited by Hurricane Ike out to the water line on the beach.

Instead, city workers have pushed the additional sand up against the dune line to keep the driving surface from piling up with loose sand.

More recently, City Manager Michael Kovacs reported that the city's application to the corps for a permit to remove the sand from the beach will not be issued in time for Spring Break, which spans the days between March 4-27.

"We have received word from the corps that our individual beach maintenance permit will not be issued in time for Spring Break or the Texas SandFest," Kovacs said. SandFest will begin on Friday, April 17, and continues through Sunday, April 19.

The city manager said he plans a mid-Feb- ruary field visit with corps staff to discuss ideas to assist with SandFest, before the Port Aransas City Council's regular meeting on Thursday, Feb. 19.

Meanwhile, Planning and Projects Manager David Parsons drew up a plan that is already approved in the city's General Land Office dune permit to keep a roadway cleared without breaking the corps' "directives on placement of sand below the wooden bollard line."

"Essentially, we are mid-stacking some of the Hurricane Ike sand. This is to prepare for beach roadway grading needed to serve motorists over the next few months until our permit is issued," Kovacs said.

The city's beach readiness plan includes moving sand between Lantana Street to Beach Access Road 1-A into low areas behind the dune line to free up about 15 feet of roadway. That work began in January and will continue into February.

Kovacs said part of the city's beach readiness plan is to store sand in areas behind the dunes where it had been disposing of seaweed.

"It's kind of a mixed blessing. We can't put sand on the beach and we can't leave it on the roadway. There is a enough room for sand and seaweed behind the dunes," he said.

The next step in early March is to blade loose road and parking area sand into the newly cleared 15 feet of space at the dune line.

Another part of the plan includes blading loose sand to the base of the existing dune line between Access Road 1-A and Access Road 1.